Tesoro pipe to North Dakota rail site leaks crude

A Tesoro line in North Dakota that carries oil from the Bakken shale formation to a rail operation leaked about 20,000 bbls of crude near Tioga, in the northern part of the state. Tesoro shut the segment involved and repairs were under way, the company said in a statement.

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By ELIOT CAROOM

SAN ANTONIO (Bloomberg) -- A Tesoro line in
North Dakota that carries oil from the Bakken shale formation
to a rail operation leaked about 20,000 bbls of crude near
Tioga, in the northern part of the state.

Tesoro shut the segment involved and repairs were under way,
the company said in a statement. Most of the regions oil
production, or about 67% in July, is exported by rail, with 25%
sent by pipe and 7% used at Tesoros Mandan, North Dakota,
refinery, according to the state
Pipeline Authority.

The state was notified of the spill on September 30, and the
initial estimate of the amount released was 750 bbls, said Dave
Glatt, chief of environmental health for North
Dakota. He said the extent of the 7.3 acre spill was discovered
later because much of the oil is below the surface, permeating
the soil to a layer of clay 10 to 12 ft underground.

Line Destination

The line carried domestic crude to a rail site at
Battleview, Maxine Herr, a spokeswoman for the state Mineral
Resources Department in Bismarck, said by phone.

The spill is the second-largest in state history, Glatt
said. The date of the release wasnt known.
Its probably something thats been going on
for a little bit of a time, we just dont know how
long, Glatt said. Due to the extent of what
happened, what kind of leak was it and what kind of safeguards
in place do they have to detect these things, that will be part
of the investigation.

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It is critical that we all learn from this unfortunate incident. We need to improve our designs and practices so we can avoid this issues. If not, the general public will never trust us with new pipelines.